Microsoft is pressing reset on policies related to its Xbox One video game console.

The company announced it is dropping two major features of its next-generation console: regular online authenticity checks required to play video games offline and restrictions on what players can do with games after purchase.

"While we believe that the majority of people will play games online and access the cloud for both games and entertainment, we will give consumers the choice of both physical and digital content," Don Mattrick, president of Microsoft's Interactive entertainment business, said in a statement. "We have listened and we have heard loud and clear from your feedback that you want the best of both worlds."

The Microsoft statement says no Internet connection will be required to play any Xbox One game. Also, avenues for trading, renting, lending or selling purchased games will remain as they are today with the Xbox 360.

The move marks a 180-degree turn for Microsoft from several weeks ago, when it outlined how its Xbox One would function when it launches this November for $499. In earlier statements, Microsoft said users would have to check in online every 24 hours to play any games offline. Microsoft also planned limits to how games were used, such as the inability to rent or lend games at launch.

The options prompted a strong rebuke from rival Sony, which is launching its PlayStation 4 this holiday. During a press conference at last week's Electronic Entertainment Expo, Sony Computer Entertainment of America President Jack Tretton emphatically proclaimed the PS4 would not restrict games or require routine online checks.

"You told us how much you loved the flexibility you have today with games delivered on disc," Mattrick said. "The ability to lend, share, and resell these games at your discretion is of incredible importance to you. "

However, Microsoft's reversal means many features planned for Xbox One, such as the Family option to share a games library with as many as 10 other people, will be shelved.

Consumer feedback led to the changes, Marc Whitten, chief product officer for Microsoft's interactive entertainment business, said in a telephone interview after the update was issued. "They tell us what they love about what we are doing and when we are doing something they don't like, they tell us, too," he said.

As it stood, some consumers saw the Xbox One as "a highly restricted system," said DFC Intelligence analyst David Cole. "The idea of online connectivity is bad from a personal usage perspective. For example, many potential consumers are mobile college students or young kids being shuffled between parents. Having to always have their system connected is a major pain."